


Whole Parted

by Botanphal



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Slow Burn, Tragic Romance, alternate universe ghost
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-08 05:09:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 11,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26820079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Botanphal/pseuds/Botanphal
Summary: A girl born into an unfortunate life seemingly has gone through it all, until suddenly a ghost of a former student gets stuck into her sufferings. In the beginning she is not thrilled at all, but eventually a relationship builds between the two at the cost of remembering regrets and past mishaps.
Relationships: Tace Taynm/Percy Admine





	1. I

**Author's Note:**

> This is probably going to be the only full OC related work I put on this site,, hoo hah,, as this place more seems to be for fanfics but I just really like this one so far,,
> 
> Please be safe when reading this story as it dives into triggering subjects <3

A pale skinned, thin but lithe and tall girl sat in an empty room filled with chairs. She wore a black hoodie with white stripes along the torso but not the arms, dull magenta/red trousers and black boots. Her outfit included a black beanie that matched her sweatshirt up top her head that ruffled her long, straight black hair that reached past her shoulders just by a little.

The area about the place was rather plain, felt a bit dingy with a smell that reminded her of her grandparent's home. The walls were two toned with white and cream, a single stripe in between that had pale yellow and orange squares. The carpet was a dull navy blue; rough and spotted with other colors. It was an average office to be stuck in.

Her grey/hazel gaze was once fixated to her phone but trailed up to a television, it was the only sound in the room so she decided to tune in.

" _Last week Wednesday, a student was found deceased in Lockehart High School, a seventeen year old junior by the name of Percy Admine_." Tace plugged her ears; that was her school. That student was in her grade, she was tired of hearing about it.

"Tace?" A door opened, seeing a brunette therapist she was slowly becoming accustomed to seeing though she was not very thrilled about being in the office. At least it tore her away from having to hear that news again. She stood up, slugging her backpack onto her back.

Her parents had forced her into therapy, though there was barely anything for her to talk about.

She more or less refused to talk, she simply did not want to. Her parents always made her do things without asking for her opinion.

Eventually she was free to leave her session, still having barely said anything. She admittedly felt a bit guilty as the therapist was quite enjoyable to talk to, she had a nice attitude but Tace did not share the trait.

Her therapist understood why she was so bitter, as she had also admitted her parents made her come there and was obviously not for the idea.

Regardless, the therapist did her job of attempting to ease her mind.

Luckily, the office was in town so she could walk home, she would rather take her time treading familiar paths than be driven home by either of her parents or rarely brother. She made her way out of the small building.

It was autumn. Cool breezes, changing colors to indicate the new season and cider accompanied by donuts. She enjoyed autumn, but hated winter. The weather was cold, typically snow on the ground, the trees and plants would be dead but at least it looked gorgeous when icicles and snow draped from branches. That was the only nice thing about winter, was when fresh snow fell. Except that meant shoveling.

She still hated winter.

Tace decided to enjoy fall while it lasted since typically winter was unruly. Like many others, autumn was her favorite season. What was not to like about it?

Cars passed by the lonely stretch of sidewalk she treaded, walking poor postured with a general threatening demeanor she preferred.

Typically she _did_ have great posture due to being in track, but ever since the incident last week she started to skulk.

She always wore an annoyed expression. Lowered eyelids, eyebrows furrowed. Sometimes her eyes were described by others to almost look red. She always had an ominous presence, most kids avoided her as a rude attitude complimented her general appearance.

She really was not the kindest, not the kindest at all.

She had gone through a lot in her early life, and it only got worse as she aged. Now a student was found dead in the school she attended, what more could affect her?

While she was alone for the most part, she did have a best friend. They are a known around band student who played instruments not normally allowed in the class, they called themself "Synder" with the stage name "Syndrome". They were quite gifted with their craft, Tace had more or less incidentally met them in middle school and they hit it off.

Funnily enough, they looked a lot like each other. Pale skin, tall, thin, black hair and a beanie along with sweater. Except Synder wore black, white and pink which was really the only contrast they had. Their eyes were also more of a navy with bags, their skin and hair were noticeably different shades as well.

They both joked that they were long lost siblings, but Synder had a family. Tace was adopted as she was left abandoned, the family who took her in explained a lot of her behavior. Synder was also a year younger, but due to the fact Tace was held back a year they were in the same grade.

Her thoughts were disrupted as she placed her hand on one of the gold colored doorknobs, staring up at the door she pushed it down. She entered her familiar, large home. All she did was immediately go upstairs, straight to her room.

She lazily set her bag down, flopping herself onto her bed it creaked. All she did was scroll through posts, staring at whatever was shown to her. As she rested her door was slowly pushed open, peering over she saw her brother.

"Mom says do the dishes." He said bluntly, hazel eyes shining he had a stern glare he always wore. Just like his parents. The dark skinned boy then left, Tace sighing before forcing herself off the comfort of her bed.

She did as told, as usual. Her mind drifting as she rinsed off flatware and plates among whatever was left for her to clean then insert into the dishwasher. Tace then pushed the shelves inside the machine back before shutting it closed, moping her way back up to her room.

This time she shut her door, then awaited dinner to go to bed. All she really wanted to do most days was sleep.


	2. II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The school hosts an event.

She had heard a school vigil was planned that Wednesday. She was not thrilled, though she was the only one warned.

The school day was going by, during lunch after eating she would join Synder in the band room. Her best friend during that time was adjusting their pale navy guitar, legs kicked up casually on a chair sitting back.

The strings kept being plucked, checking for the correct tune. However, it paused. Her friend sat up, staring at her.

"Hey, you wanna talk about anything?" They tilted their head, a worrisome expression along the contours of their face.

"There isn't anything to talk about." She shook her head dismissively, her friend growing a pouted guise. They then sat back, fiddling with their guitar once more.

"Look at us. Two pale skinned, black haired traumatized children by death." Their tone was sympathetic, they reached to adjust the black, pink rimmed beanie on their head. Tace slowly peered over at them.

"You and me could almost be siblings, if it hadn't been for the fact your birth parents are assholes and left you." She knew they were trying to empathize to bring her comfort, but it did not do much for her other than stare blankly away.

A click was emitted from the intercom.

" _Attention all students and staff, please report to the auditorium and by grade sit at your designated seat. Bring nothing with you other than yourselves_." A voice rung out, her friend standing up.

There it was. The fabled time.

"You and me, we're like ghosts. And ghosts haunt together." They held out their hand, she took it.

"Thanks, Synder." She crossed her arms after standing, the two of them heading out towards the gymnasium that had the bleachers set.

The amount of students voices about the room could almost be considered deafening, more than before to Tace. Some kids gave her glances which she was used to, but these ones were different.

Once everyone sat down did it become dead silent by the sound of their principal's voice.

"It is hard for me to bring this information out to all of you, whether or not you have heard of the news you will be told the truth today."

She sighed in between her teeth. Her principal began to talk about her death and surprisingly some students reacted to the information.

"We are here to remember and respect our fallen peer, classmate, friend, student and sister. Percy Admine was a intelligent, quiet, creative and passionate girl who had suffered through many experiences alone."

Tace heard someone crying, turning her head she could see the Speech and English teacher, Mrs. Mirror quietly weeping. There was also a hall monitor who had joined her.

"Whether or not you knew or have heard of her, she was a very important part of this school and forever will be. A star student many could look up to. This day is not only to commemorate the loss but to also remember; that you are not alone. Help is here, just speak to your counselor. For those who have known her, counseling is being provided anytime including after and before school. We will now take a moment of silence."

There was no sound at all, other than the sniffling of some staff. The more empathetic kids as well. All she did was stare with a general empty feeling. She suddenly felt Synder pat her back a few times, her head lowering in response.

As she sat there, a realization came to her. It was mostly teachers that were mourning, presumably ones that Percy attended. While aforementioned empathetic students mourned she recalled never seeing Percy all that much with anyone.

Perhaps, she was alone. Other than the presence of teachers.

It was a depressing thought, all she could do was theorize with no answers.

Eventually everyone was dismissed, the event took to the end of the day so kids returned to their classes to fetch their items.

Tace watched the clumps of students leave, seemingly none of them coming for counseling.

"Excuse me, miss Taynm?" An unfamiliar voice surprised her, turning around. It was Mrs. Mirror, her dark chocolate eyes reddened from tears.

"Hi, I'm Mrs. Mirror, the English and Speech teacher—Percy was one of my students and well, if you need someone to talk to you're always free to come to room B117." The chocolate haired and pale teacher had a short smile on her face, Tace nodded her head.

"Thanks..." she grinned a bit awkwardly back, watching her walk away the teacher wiped her face.

It was strange to have so many teachers be on her, she was used to it in a way that she commonly got detention for doing small things or neglecting certain pieces of work. Now they were all about her, it was starting to feel like a burden. Forever, being haunted by that past Wednesday.

Walking home felt slower than usual, and much colder. This is how it was going to be for a long while.


	3. III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A strange vision occurs, assumed form guilty conscience.

Most of the sports and after school activities were cancelled post the passing of the classmate.

They were being picked up again, it had been three weeks since the vigil. She felt dead every where she went, a walking corpse.

"You're beginning to look like me." Synder quipped, she rolled her eyes.

"Whatever you say." She responded, standing up.

"You gonna go back into track?" As they spoke they strummed a little ukulele in their pale hands, a satisfied expression growing on their face as it was perfectly tuned.

"Eh, haven't been thinking about it. I don't think I will." She shrugged, stretching out.

"What? You're gonna drop track? You've been in it since sixth grade!" Their usual monotone voice actually expressed some astonishment.

"I just don't feel like committing to things anymore. Not yet at least." Her head lowered, dark hair falling off her shoulders.

"Dude, you need a distraction. You've been going through a lot and you need to take your mind off of it." Synder had stood and placed a hand on her right shoulder, grabbing her attention she stared at them. Tace did not respond.

"Plus, all you're doing is running and stretching essentially. You're pretty quick and haven't you won medals?" Synder then moved in front of her, using their hands for emphasis.

"Yeah. I don't care much for them as much as my parents do."

"Well, if you want to get out of therapy you need to show improvement to your parents, doing track is probably an easy way out." Synder crossed their arms, they were probably right.

"I'll think about it. It'll be winter in a few months so it's not like they'll be opening anytime soon. I haven't heard any announcements about it." Tace then turned away, scooping up her items she had left on the floor.

"I'm worried about you, alright? Remember you can always message me."

"Yeah, I know." Tace slung her bag over her shoulder, adjusting it more comfortably against her back.

"Have a weekend." They said their usual goodbye they both shared on Fridays, a silly sentence they have been saying for years to each other with different variations.

"Have a weekend." She echoed, pushing open the band room door and out into the normal school halls.

The rest of the school day was the same; boring. She did most of her work, never studied but always got high grades. The bell soon sounded, dismissing the teenagers for the weekend.

She was going to walk her usual boring path she has attended since Freshman year, but decided to go a different route. There was an area with a small forest that lead to the school, considered the back entrance. The path eventually splits off, one went to a park while the other lead to the town.

Tace decided to take the town path, as it would be an easier way home than going into the park. It had been a long while since been down there but still knew it fairly well. The path was still dirt, tall ominous trees that surrounded it. It was quite pretty by the changing fall colors, leaves looking like flames that slow danced against the cool breeze.

She took in a deep breath, exhaling slowly. It smelled like fall, everything was fall. But all her mind could think about was that winter would be approaching and come to cover up the beauty.

She was getting close to the end of the path, no one was there except her as she saw nobody. It was a bit strange as typically it would become bustling on Fridays, then again people about this time were just being released from their jobs.

As she walked along, closer and closer, the wind suddenly changed and blew behind her. It was an odd phenomena, without turning back to investigate she simply shrugged it off and continued. The only sounds she could hear was the chirping of birds above, her feet crunching along the dirt path, her shuffling backpack and occasionally her own breaths.

'Hello?' A soft but confused voice surprised her from behind, whipping around her heart dropped.

Long and wavy light tawny hair that was dyed a dark purple at the ends in a very low ponytail. Caramel skin; mixed race but with the exact origins unknown, freckles along her face and assumed on her body as well. Curvy body, slightly stocky and quite short. She wore a bicolor dark blue/green and lime sweater along with blue/purple jeans. She also appeared to be wearing some type of lime converse-like slip on shoe with green socks that matched her sweater. Then, of course, her eyes. Blue and green, except her pupils were _white_.

Then the most frightening thing about her; she could see _through_ her. Translucent.

 _Who the fuck else could it be?_ She thought to herself.

It was Percy Admine, standing right in front of her with a lost expression.

'U-uhm, pardon me, but do you know where I am?' Her voice sounded only slightly like it echoed, sort of disembodied but her mouth still moved as she spoke.

"You're... you're joking, right?" Tace backed away, the girl appearing confused as ever.

'N-no—I'm not...' she said slowly, soft innocent eyes darting from the surrounding scene back to Tace.

Tace wondered if she was dreaming, maybe she was finally losing her mind.

'S-so uh, I just kinda woke up today some place, I don't really recall where? Everything was extremely dark and... _staticky_? I don't know—it's like the whole world was moving around me but I saw a strange light and walked towards it,' as she went on Tace stared with her mouth completely gaped open, 'and eventually everything became colorful and much more like the world... trees and all that and strangely I felt drawn to something and well... it was you I guess...'

"No—no no no—I'm not dealing with this type of shit." Tace then turned away, beginning to walk swiftly away.

'W-wait—please—' she desperately called, walking up next to her Tace stared at her sudden appearance with a rather frustrated look.

'I don't know where I am—or even who I am I just have vague memories... I need your help.'

"Ask someone else." Tace became quicker, the girl still able to catch up.

'I've tried but nobody can hear me, you're the only one who has responded to me so this must mean something!' Tace attempted to ignore her pleas, releasing an exasperated sigh.

"The something you're thinking of is nothing, leave me the fuck alone." She spat, the girl reactively pausing.

Tace continued to make her way home as fast as possible, even running manically. As she broke into the town passerby's stared at her as she made her way through, entering the suburbs straight to her house.

'Please just stop running!' The voice returned, glancing over her shoulder she could see her standing on the sidewalk as she ran up the steps to her house. Rather ungracefully, she tripped up the stairs.

"Fuck-" she cursed herself, scrambling up despite the now growing pain on her chest and knees.

"Leave me the hell alone!" She yelled, opening the door and slamming it shut.

"The hell, Tace?" Her brother was sitting in the front room, she ignored him running up the stairs and into her room.

She curled up onto her bed, holding her head internally panicking about the situation.

 _Great, I can talk to dead people and out of all people it's her?_ She gripped her long strands of black hair tighter, falling back-first onto her bed.

_This is insane, I'm insane. I'm officially insane._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will more gradually be posting chapters as I’ve been writing this story for a while (in total there’s nine chapters, ten in the works)  
> I may post more later today, we’ll see!


	4. IV

It was hard to sleep that night, all she could do was think about that girl and whether or not she was hallucinating.

When she did inevitably fall asleep and wake up, everything felt normal. It was the weekend so she was free to do whatever unless if her parents decided to put their say in.

She moped around her bed for a while, doing her routine of staring at posts on her phone before getting up and dressed for the day.

She ate breakfast before coming back upstairs to brush her hair and teeth; all set for whatever was brought upon her.

Her parents luckily did not say much so she decided to take a stroll about town to look for anything interesting. However, as she was leaving and shutting the door behind her she jumped.

"Gah!" She exclaimed, the girl was sitting on the steps of her house. She looked up and over to her, slowly standing.

'Hi there...' one thing she had not noticed earlier was the fact she had purple bags under her eyes.

"Oh my god you're not real. You can't be." Tace then strode past her, descending the steps.

'Can we just talk? Please?'

"There's nothing left to talk about—Y'know why am I even responding to you?" Tace realized as she stomped forward, deciding to ignore the puzzled girl who regardless followed.

'Do you know who I am? There has to be a reason why you can hear me—you can't just ignore me forever.' Her voice was already irritating, it was so soft and quiet she felt like she needed to shove a speaker down her throat just to hear her more properly, such a sharp contrast from her own tone. Except she would never do something like that as she wanted nothing to do with the peer.

'Please listen to me—' the girl suddenly passed straight through her body, a surprised reaction from both of them as during that a strange sensation came over Tace from the sudden entry.

The girl fell onto the ground, clearly baffled she stared at her hands before shakily standing back up.

'Wh-what's wrong with me?' Her voice shook, Tace regaining herself she growled.

"What's wrong with you? Your name is Percy Admine, and you're _dead!_ Now leave me alone." She held her fists tight, walking around the pitiful ghost.

Of course, while she wanted to believe ridding the ghost would be simple, it would not be. Not at all.

'I'm... dead?' Tace actually paused by the genuine lost tone, she stood there for a moment before chuffing a breath then continuing forward.

As she entered the town, the sound of people rung all about. Restaurants still had their outdoor seating areas open so that explained the much louder chatter. Birds sung, cars hummed and grumbled. It was like any normal weekday, with the exception for the silent ghost girl that intently followed her.

Though she could not see as she was too intent on staring forward and only forward, the girl kept her head down and eyes to the sidewalk. She was only a little ways behind Tace, holding her hands together playing with her fingers as she let everything sink in.

Tace had passed by someone who appeared to refuse to move out of her way, so she rather lazily dodged them. Said stranger continued and walked through Percy who reactively blocked but of course stood dumbfounded once again. As she realized Tace was farther ahead, she scampered up with no noise.

'...What's your name?' By the sound of her voice Tace's eyebrows lowered, pulling her lip back she ignored her.

The ghost reluctantly continued to follow, returning her gaze back to her hands.

Tace had not realized but her mind had been so fixated on the ghost she was already outside of the town, nearing a different area of the suburbs. Annoyance crossed her mind, now the ghost was a distraction. Just what she needed.

Though she was more unfamiliar with the particular area, she had been told there was a park somewhere amongst the cookie-cutter houses.

She decided to wander and somehow came across it, walking inside. It was nice and quiet, perfect for her to take in a deep breath.

"Can you stop following me?" She suddenly whipped around after gathering herself and confronted the shy ghost who stepped back with her hands up.

'I-I tried to last night... I can't, everything just gets fuzzy like how I had said before...'

"Of fucking course because fuck me..." Tace expressively turned away, stumbling about. Percy slowly approached, rubbing her hands anxiously together.

'I'm sorry it has to be this way.' Her head lowered down, Tace rolling her eyes.

'Could you tell me your name?' The ghost still appeared submissive, the mortal slowly turned around to face her with her mouth agape; clearly annoyed.

"No. And you wanna know why? Because I don't want you floating about my room at night going _oooo ooo Tace ooo_." She twiddled her fingers in a sneering manner.

' _Tace?_ ' Her eyes widened as she realized what she had said during her mockery.

"...I literally hate living." Tace then began to walk into the park, following one of the crude dirt paths.

'Listen, I'm not here to—' the ghost's voice slowed, appearing to pause behind her. Awfully curious, Tace could not help but look back. After all, what could make the ghost girl shut up?

The ghost's eyes were wide, oddly they _flashed_. Her once confused expression became softer, staring about the area.

'I've... I've been here before—I remember.' The spirit continued to ogle, Tace raising an eyebrow as the ghost past her.

Despite her not wanting to associate the ghost, she followed as if to make sure she would be okay.

'I came here on random occasions when I was younger... just to watch and feed the birds. There was always a lot of birds over here.' She held her hands together, breathing deeply in then out as she reminisced.

Tace stared quietly, some profound feeling growing inside her.

"The street this park is on is called 'Ravenwood', duh, no wonder you saw a lotta birds." Her eyes looked off, Percy turning around.

'Ironic because we have no ravens here... but we do have crows and I think they're pretty neat.' She had quite the vocabulary at times but sometimes she almost sounded a bit childish. Tace realized her changing behavior towards the intrusive being, shutting her eyes she strode back in front of the ghost.

"Whatever about stupid little birds, somehow it's already noon." She more quickly made her way out, the spirit continuing to tag along.


	5. V

Only that day did it dawn on her that she would have to get used to her little stalker. She at least appreciated the fact she made no noise, other than words from her mouth.

Of course, she saw that as the most irritating thing about her. The fact she was able to respond and question.

Even though it was a Saturday afternoon, she was already thinking about school due to the girl. She would be stuck in school with her and all she hoped is that she could keep her mouth shut during that time.

The school days were long, so she doubted it.

It was dinner time, sitting at the quite lengthy table slowly eating her spaghetti. Next to her sat her brother, and across was their parents who still wore their stern statue-like faces.

The ghost was politely attempting to sit in one of the extra chairs but appeared to be having difficulty, Tace could not help but watched as she tried to sit but usually phased through.

She had a pitiful expression, still trying and trying and trying. At one point she tried to jump onto the chair but ended up going through the floor which actually made the mortal almost snicker aloud.

"What's so amusing to you?" The rough voice from her mother immediately alerted her, sitting up straight she stared down at her mostly empty plate.

"Nothing... I just remembered something from school that made me laugh." She whipped up a quick cover up, luckily her statue of an adoptive mother was convinced.

Eventually the ghost girl reappeared from the floor, clearly distraught she looked manically around. Her eyes locked to Tace's, Tace as a response dismissively rolled her eyes.

Though she stared away, the ghost appeared lost.

During cleaning she realized the ghost was not there. She pondered where she could have gone, but then realized she was thinking about her and threw away the thought.

Making her way upstairs, as usual she was going to head straight towards her room but something caught her eye. Turning her head to the left, the ghost girl was sitting in one of the windows. Fetal position, staring outside at the sky's vast array of stars.

Tace sighed, wondering why she was going to do what she was about to do. Quietly she approached.

"Do you wanna talk or something?" The ghost's head raised by the sound of her voice, slowly turning toward her. She noticed the spirit's eyes looked shiny and wet, even as she breathed in she sniffled.

The ghost wordlessly hopped off of the ledge and headed towards her room, Tace's emotions being internally fought about how to react to her.

She admittedly felt a bit sympathetic. Would she tell the spirit that? No, of course not.

They both made their way to her room, Tace closing the door. She then looked at the depressed form of the girl who sat on the floor firmly in a corner, having returned back into the fetal position. Tace sighed, crouching down.

"What's wrong? I really don't want to have a miserable ghost following me everywhere." She sounded impatient, crossing her arms as she sat.

'I'm sorry...' the ghost whispered. Tace awaited her continuation but appeared to struggle. Eventually, she did start talking again.

'I'm just so lost... a-and confused... why am I here?' She stared up into her set gaze, a single tear beginning to run off the ghost's cheek.

'I just... I just wanna know what happened to me...' she shivered.

Tace's once more usual annoyed expression softened, sight going from the ghost's face trailed down and away as she thought.

The mortal stood up, the ghost watching her as she removed her hoodie. Funnily enough, she turned around to see the ghost girl hid herself away as she did though all she was doing was removing her sweater.

"You said you can't remember anything, right?" She began, sitting down on her bed wondering if she was going to regret what she was about to get herself into.

'Mhm...' the ghost nodded her head, stifling a sniffle.

"Well, maybe you need to somehow get them back, and well it seems you're stuck to me so I guess I'm forced to help you." She scratched the back of her head, the ghost suddenly standing.

'Y-you'll help me?' The spirit was astounded, Tace feeling her face warm with embarrassment.

"Yeah, whatever, not like I really have a choice." She had turned away but returned her gaze back to the ghost who had a genuine smile on her face.

'Oh my gosh thank you!' The ghost happily stomped her feet but then suddenly started floating up into the air, her happiness quickly fading into panic as she tried to move around.

'Oh my god I hate this!' She shook her head, Tace beginning to giggle at the ghost's sufferings.

'Of course you only laugh when I struggle!' The ghost tightened her body, suddenly falling and smacking onto the floor. A sad little moan mumbled from the ghost, Tace quietly snickering.

The ghost slowly got herself up, her face having turned an embarrassed red tint.

'At least seeing you laugh is refreshing.' The girl's eyes trailed away, Tace immediately pausing she grew a repressed expression.

They more or less sat quietly for the rest of the night until she got ready for bed, exiting the bathroom she got into her covers and thought for a moment.

 _The only way I can get rid of her is if she gains all her memories, but how do I do that?_ Her eyebrows furrowed.

She recalled what happened earlier at the park, Percy had remembered the place. Tace had no clue if it was from the sight of the park itself or if something specifically triggered it, she felt stupid for the fact she did not pay all that much attention.

They had walked into the park but the ghost did not receive the memory until they were a little inside, Tace then sat up and peered off the bed towards the girl who was tapping her feet on the carpeted floor, emitting no noise.

"Hey, uh, earlier today at Ravenwood—what made you remember?" The shy ghost stared up, eyes trailing away as she recalled the event.

'I think it was the birds that flew overhead. There was just something about standing right in that spot that felt like I belonged there—or had been there.' The girl sunk down a bit, Tace turning away as she thought.

"Hmh." She thought, reaching towards her light and clicking it off.

As she rested back down did it only settle into her how grueling of an experience this was going to be. How many memories does this girl have and how many of them does she need to find?

It was a commitment Tace was not prepared for, but still she had no choice unless if she wanted a ghost to be following her for the rest of her already aching life.


	6. VI

It was beginning to be interesting having the girl follow her about, she was starting to feel like some sort of strange imaginary friend.

Except she would not call her a friend despite how nice the spirit was to her.

They were walking on the outskirts of the town that Sunday. Being in public was not much of an option if they wanted to talk as it would most likely paint Tace to look insane.

"What do you remember? Or like, what do you have?" Tace raised an eyebrow as she inquired, the ghost that walked next to her thought for a moment with a hand under her chin.

'Well... I have my expansive knowledge of way too many subjects—I also feel oddly educated on death that I don't remember learning about.' The girl appeared to be specifically stepping on stones as she walked, Tace watching her carefully.

'So I guess I don't have major event memories? I don't know, I'm still trying to figure it all out... it's... it's a lot to take in.' Tace nodded her head slowly, her eyes trailing over to small stores nearby.

All of the buildings were more mute in color but still rather colorful, varied heights but the sizes were mostly the same. There was a lot of stone sidewalk paths with trees planted in little patches of the ground, it was quite a pleasant area but strangely not many people walked about this area, perhaps because it featured the backs of stores.

One of them was a video game related store with varying titles and different graphics displayed in a little case, she decided to investigate.

'Oh my gosh... that one looks adorable—and it's about bugs?' The ghost's soft voice was filled with wonder, she was pointing to one of the thin rectangular boxes to a particular game with a cute and slightly cartoonish style.

'I love bugs, they're so misunderstood.' She sounded rather depressed that time, having her hands placed against the glass she stared longingly at the gem. Tace was silent, simply observing the spirit's peculiar behavior.

"I've never played any video games before." Tace said as her eyes traced over all of the other titles, the ghost turning toward her.

'Honestly I haven't either, but I did get my hands on a DS and boy did I have so much fun...' Tace stood there as if everything was normal, only did it take her a minute to realize what happened.

"Wait—was that another memory?" Tace quickly turned to her, Percy appearing surprised.

'Oh—I don't think it was actually—I just kind of knew that.' The ghost returned her gaze to the array of systems and games.

'But I can't remember why I never really got the chance... maybe my family didn't have a lot of money?' The ghost then backed away, Tace staring to gradually stride past the store and continue down the tiled path.

"Well your guess is as good as mine. My parents just think they're brain rot."

'That's unfortunate... maybe some day you'll get to enjoy them.' The ghost had a hit of melancholy in her expression, Tace nodded her head.

"I'm starting to doubt it."

~~~

They had only met that Friday, but it was already starting to feel like a routine or that this had been going on for months. While the ghost could wander it appeared she decided to stick to following her mortal companion, Tace hoped for some time to herself but it appeared she would have to request that.

It was midday and they had returned home, Tace walking upstairs lead her to her room where she closed the door.

"Okay, if you're going to be following me everywhere, I need to make some rules for you." Tace pointed to her, the girl sitting herself down on the floor to attentively listen. She admittedly had a rather cute expression, eyes wide with wonder. Tace cleared her voice, attempting to ignore the sight.

"Number one; the bathroom is _off limits_. The only time you can go in there is if I'm not in there. Two; during school you will be _silent_ and staying still so you're not a distraction. Three; if I'm talking to someone you will be exactly like the second rule. No talking, no distracting." Every time she listed off a rule she raised the appropriate amount of fingers, holding a stern expression to show she was serious.

'Okay...' the ghost's eyes trailed away and down to the floor, attempting to wipe her hands along the carpet flooring. It was hard to decipher her tone, that is if she was disappointed or content by the restrictions.

Tace simply walked away and into the bathroom, getting herself ready for the school day tomorrow.

~~~

As they were coming up the early morning steps to the school, Tace glared towards the ghost next to her.

"If you want you can wait outside of classes." She whispered quickly, the girl returning her stare.

Tace entered her first hour, English, sitting down at her assigned table. It was still rather early so there was not many kids about the place, the ghost coming in to inspect the classroom.

It was like any other boring classroom; tiled floors, earthy-yellow tones with black accents, a whiteboard then of course the desks including the teacher's. This classroom in particular however had shelving rather than storage closets which was no blessing in disguise for the students.

Whenever the class would begin the ghost girl would either leave or stay in the back to tune into the lesson, occasionally she would have left then join in late.

She said no words, she made no noise. She was obedient and simply listened to the teacher's words, with a few frequent glances at Tace whose back faced her.

During lunch Tace sat with Synder as usual, once finishing they would head out to the band and or choir room. The ghost more hesitantly followed, staring at the stranger her mortal companion strolled next to while she was behind.

Though Tace gave her no attention during that moment, the spirit felt lonely. The mortal could speak to whomever she came across in the world, while the ghost could only talk to someone who was reluctantly helping her because she has to.

It was quite an awful feeling, but she had no say. All she could was listen to the mortal's demands to ensure she would not be forgotten or neglected by her.

"You feeling alright? You look rather worse for ware, no offense." The ghost's bothersome mind was tugged away by the stranger's voice, she stared up to see Tace shrug her shoulders.

"Yeah, I've told you I'm alright." Tace sat back, her eyes that were once fixated on her nails crawled down to see the ghost standing some feet away from her.

The ghost had her fingers neatly pushed together, her usual fiddling, the mortal wished to know why she did it so much. Perhaps it was a strange coping mechanism.

Tace watched the spirit pace slowly about the place, beginning to inspect every nook and cranny of the quiet choir room.

She soon returned, though the mortal's eyes were on her phone the spirit stared from the stranger back to her. She did this for about thirty seconds or so, back and fourth, back and fourth.

'You two look like twins.' A little giggle escaped from the ghost's lips, she had tried to hide it but was too slow.

An upset expression ran along the mortal's face, she bared her teeth as she whispered.

" _Shut it._ "

"Huh?" Synder turned to her with a puzzled visage, Tace was clearly panicked.

"Uh—it was nothing." She responded awkwardly, her friend shrugging their shoulders before returning to the ukulele they held.

Tace gazed over at the ghost who appeared unexpectedly depressed. The mortal, however, held her more critical stare but admittedly felt some guilt to her reaction.

As the school day drew to a close, she realized this is how it was going to be for a very long while. The spirit intently following her, staring about the new yet familiar places with wide eyes.

There was nothing she could do, other than help her.


	7. VII

Weeks were already passing, despite Tace's rather rash behavior she could not help but feel herself growing closer to the spirit.

It was more like some days she was not nice at all, while others she was decent.

Tace was in a constant internal conflict, she did not want to get too close to the ghost and develop some connection knowing someday she may disappear.

But at the same time she was beginning to realize her rude actions were affecting the sensitive spirit, she did not want to drive her away. Then again, not like she could go anywhere without her.

There really was no escaping the inevitable thought she did not dare to acknowledge that was gradually growing more and more in her mind.

~~~

The ghost loved the stars, apparently. She would talk about the vastness of space and the concept of alternate realities, in the beginning she was bored of the subject but as the ghost talked more she became more interested.

'Just think about it—somewhere there's a universe where I'm still alive.' It was quite a morbid concept, she felt disheartened by that particular universe idea.

The ghost wanted to live again, but everything that occurred has already happened and there was no way to go back.

Reality did not work like that. It is not so simple and forgiving. If anything, it's quite cruel.

Tace watched as the ghost peered out from one of the windows, crouching and moving to see the stars outside. A thought came to her.

"If you wanna see the stars better, I can show you a place." The spirit slowly turned, curiosity clear in her eyes.

'But... it's late, what about your parents?' She then began to approach but paused, Tace looking about.

"We aren't going far. Also, I'm not doing this just for you, I like to sit up here on occasion."

She lead her follower outside her room, coming towards the window she had once seen the ghost mourning inside. Very carefully, she clicked it open and began to climb out.

As expected, the ghost was fearful. More for her than herself, of course.

'B-be careful!'

"This isn't my first time doing this, come on." She would offer the ghost assistance but it would simply be useless. Eventually, they both made their way up the roof.

'There's so many...' the ghost ogled, beginning to point.

'I think that might be Draco up there—I could be wrong. The story behind Draco was that he was a dragon—as it's Latin for dragon—who was defeated by Hercules so he could acquire the Golden Apples of Hesperides.' She was quite impressed by the amount of information the ghost possessed, but then again she was referred to as a 'star student' so perhaps it was to be expected.

'S-sorry uhm—I go on tangents about my useless interests, you probably don't care all that much...' Tace's eyes widened as she must have been giving her a rather bored expression.

"No—it's fine, I knew stars had their own stories but I never really put effort into reading about them. It's kinda... cool..." Tace returned her gaze to the dark sky that was dotted with glowing white spots, the ghost next to her had a smile on her face.

They more or less sat in silence, enjoying the array of hidden stories. As they sat there it got colder to the mortal, but she fought through it to give the ghost more time.

'I miss listening to music, putting in my earbuds and just walking the trails. It's at least one of the things I miss the most.' The spirit reminisced so suddenly, Tace tapping her right index finger on the roof they sat upon. She cringed a bit at the thought that came to mind, but releasing a sigh she pulled out her phone.

"I've got a lot of music on my phone if you wanna listen to something." She offered, for once. Tace held her eyes dismissively closed but they slowly opened when no response came about.

Opening her right eye, she was surprised to see a baffled expression along the ghost's face and even posture suggested she was astonished.

'Did you just... offer? Something? To me?' She sounded breathless, her words slow.

"Don't get so giddy about it." Her cheeks warmed with edged awkwardness.

'I will forever be elated by this offer. I will dream about it.' The ghost joked, Tace rolled her eyes.

"Whatever you weirdo—here, take a look." She handed her phone over rather stupidly,avoiding the ghost's gaze that crawled up to her.

'Uhm. I can't... hold that...' Tace's eyes flung open when she realized, pulling her phone back.

"Shit. Uh, come here." The ghost appeared to hesitate before slowly inching her way over. Though they were side by side before, now they were extremely close.

"I've got _Panic! At The Disco... Rob Zombie, In This Moment..._ just let me know if you want me to slow down or stop scrolling." The ghost's eyes were wide, quickly reading all of the artist's names.

'Kinda hardcore. Fitting for you and your 'tude.'

"Oh shut up you probably listened to baby music."

'I wouldn't say _Queen_ is baby music. But whatever you say.'

Tace chuffed a breath, still gradually scrolling through the list. Eventually the ghost's eyes suddenly lit up, pointing to one album which caused her to pause.

'You listen to _Girl in Red?_ ' The mortal's face immediately became a violent shade of reddish-pink, shutting off her phone.

"Yeah—uh I do on occasion. What's it to you?" She snapped, the ghost reactively backing away by her tone.

'I was just getting into it before I... well...' the ghost peered off, clasping her hands nervously together.

An embarrassing thought came to her.

_Is she sapphic?_

In the beginning, it was not embarrassing at all until she realized why she thought about it.

_So what if she is, she's dead. That would be stupid._

Her flushed cheeks had dissipated as she strayed her mind away from that particular thought.

"You... wanna listen?" Her eyes quickly darted straight to the spirit's, a nervous expression crawling onto the ghost's face.

'Ehm...' she began, beginning to shake her head left to right.

'N-no... I'm good.'

If it was a trait she noticed about the ghost was how she stuttered when embarrassed, oddly enough she did not do it often as Tace could remember when she was alive it was very frequent. Then again, Percy had no memories. Or, well, was regaining them.

"How come? You seemed interested." She decided to be cocky and prod, surprisingly the ghost's face became a neat shade of translucent red.

'U-uh... no reason, let's just... keep looking.' Tace smirked for once, even releasing a single chuckle. Of course that immediately alerted the spirit.

'D-did you just laugh?'

She was still nervous.

"You're hallucinating." The ghost raised one of her eyebrows, the mortal was clearly aware she still had a smirk on her face.

'I was happy to see you smiling and giggling at first but now you're just doing it to spite me.' Both her eyebrows lowered, slightly annoyed.

"Of course." She teased.

For once, she felt like she enjoyed her time with the spirit. The fact she continued to haunt her never came across to her as they chatted.


	8. VIII

Tace started to listen to music more often as prior to their chat was more of a random thing she would listen to on occasion, or when bored.

Percy had given her suggestions, and she decided to try them rather than be stubborn.

She explored different genres that felt more like separate realms and realities, her mind felt as if she was elsewhere.

At moments, she wondered if this was what it was like to be a ghost. Fading in and out of varying realities, wandering and wondering.

Then again, she was not dead, but most days felt as if she was. The music made her feel more alive, however.

When they were together, she would take out her earphones and play it aloud so the ghost could enjoy it with her.

~~~

It was a quiet late night, standing inside the shower that sprayed hot water onto her face. All she did was stand still, having left her phone playing whatever cycled through the new playlist she had made not too long ago.

She softly began to hum along, breathing in. She never projected her actual voice in the shower or really any place, but this day she decided to. Quietly she sang along, her voice echoing about the surrounding walls of the shower accompanied by the droplets of water.

Tace had a lovely voice. A stark contrast from her personality and appearance, but regardless it was a talent she had that she shared with nobody but herself.

Mostly because her parents had found out about it, and they did not like it. They only want their children to be serious and not focus on such silly useless things like singing.

'Your voice is beautiful...' The sound of the spirit's soft voice pulled her out of her thoughts, wildly turning about as if the ghost was in there with her.

The spirit of course was not in the shower, but she was in the bathroom sitting outside the shower with her back against one of the tiled walls.

"I thought I told you the bathroom is off limits." Her eyebrows scrunched up, continuing to wash herself she turned her body away.

There was no response, Tace felt annoyed along with embarrassed.

'Sing more... please...' she requested, sounding as if she was lost in thought.

"You're not supposed to know about that."

'How could you hide such talent? I always knew you had something hidden in you... please, just a little longer.' The ghost almost began to sound melancholy. Tace held her breath.

" _You said hey..._ " she began, listening to the song.

" _And I said hello, what's your name?_ "

She closed her eyes.

" _I'd really like to know..._ "

" _About you, too bad I stopped at hello._ "

Though her voice was noticeably lower compared to the original composer, she still sung as softly as she could. As she continued along, she suddenly heard something and paused.

' _You were so witty and so charming... swept me off my feet._ ' The spirit was quietly singing along as well, her head held down and eyes closed. Her voice was so soft, Tace was surprised she could make it out amidst the loud shower.

The ghost of course realized she had stopped, doing the same looking rather embarrassed though Tace could not see.

Tace, however continued. Only when the song was over did she finally decide to leave the shower, Percy promptly exiting to give her privacy.

Only when she was drying off did she realize they had been singing a love song, she sighed.

It was almost as if the world wanted to torture her.

She left the bathroom and entered her room, plopping herself onto her creaky bed.

"Please don't come into the bathroom again, I understand my shower is mostly covered but I want privacy." She said to the ghost who was staring at photos hung by tacks on a corkboard.

'It's boring without you, you do realize you're my only source of entertainment? Plus, you were playing music.' She attempted to reason, Tace grumbling to herself.

"You could probably entertain yourself, you're just not trying hard enough." The spirit's face lowered, clearly she had enjoyed their short duet in the washroom but now it was back to the mortal's edgy personality.

'You think I want to be stuck following you around all day? Not being able to do anything else like—changing my clothes, brushing my hair, reading a book—I can't do any of it.' The ghost sunk down as she expressed her more frustrated thoughts, Tace felt a little pang of guilt.

She then sat up, staring at the ghost who was attempting to touch things on her desk. Her fingers simply phased through the solid objects.

'I-I'm doing my best to be nice and kind to you but it's hard to be that way when you have a tendency to reply in such nasty or blunt way I... I just... I'm nothing.' Her tone was grim, it almost appeared as if she was going to cry.

Tace stood up, more or less her guilt causing her to. The ghost's eyes were still fixated on the scattered pens and pencils on the desk, Tace peering down before back up to her.

Tace reached into her pocket, pulling out her phone. She shuffled a playlist, letting whatever came on play.

The ghost turned towards her, eyes wide.

"We can still listen to music together." Tace felt her face lightly tint, she then reached to the back of her head and scratched nervously.

"Maybe even... I don't know... read a book together..." Tace had her eyes closed to ignore the ghost's reaction, but eventually they pried open.

The ghost's eyes shimmered, looking as if she wanted to cry more which was not the mortal's intention.

'R-really?' The ghost wiped her eyes with the side of her hand, Tace slowly nodding her head.

"Yeah." She mumbled, a smile became plastered on the ghost's face.

'Th-thank you so—' suddenly the ghost attempted to hug her but of course fell through her, Tace feeling a strange sensation as her body phased through.

After she regained herself she turned around, the ghost had almost fallen but it appeared she caught herself.

'R-right... I can't do that either...' Tace stared at her, sighing.

"Well that's alright, I'm not a fan of hugs." She tried to comfort, the ghost raising a challenging eyebrow.

'You're not a fan of a lot of nice things.' The ghost crossed her arms, Tace smirking.

"You know me so well." She walked past her then jumped back onto her bed, getting under the covers.

"You have quite a nice voice, y'know." The spirit was surprised by the compliment, her face flushing warmly.

'I... I don't r-really but thanks... your's is prettier.' Her face was still bright, Tace reaching over to turn the light off.

"Maybe you should sing me a nice lullaby."

'I-I uhm... I don't know any songs off the top of my head.' The shy ghost began to creep down onto the floor, fooling with her was starting to become enjoyable mostly for the fact of her embarrassed stutter.

"Fine then, but if I get terrible sleep I'm blaming you."

'Awesome, do that.' The ghost giggled a bit, sitting against the frame of the bed.

Percy would sit there for hours, it was difficult to rest when you were dead. You were so constantly tired but all you could do was hope to close your eyes and fall asleep.

There were no guarantees you would, ever since she came across Tace did she learn of this challenge.

Oddly enough, she fell asleep that night.


	9. IX

Awaking in the morning, she stretched out her tired muscles and yawned. Strangely, the ghost was not in the room. Regardless, she prepared herself for the school day with her companion at her side.

As she exited her room, turning to the left she noticed Percy staring at a photo hung up on the wall.

The ghost had noticed her entry and eyes lit up.

'Good morning.' She smiled, standing more upright.

"Snooping about I see?"

'Yeah, uhm, I woke up at like four or something so I decided to take a look about. All of your photos look so... serious and stiff—no offense.' Percy has turned her gaze back to the perfect alignment of the black framed photos against the off-white wall.

"That's my family for ya, buncha statues."

~~~

Soon they were making their way towards the High School, Tace's family lived nearby so she was forced to walk.

Having the ghost's company was much more comforting as prior she was alone.

Once they arrived, the ghost attended every class, of course unnoticed by everyone except for the mortal she followed.

Tace had gotten used to it, finally. Admittedly, though she would never express it aloud, she was starting to enjoy the ghost's company.

Unfortunately, they could not listen to music together. Tace usually put her earbuds in when heading out to classes, she felt a bit guilty as all the ghost did was silently follow.

She continued to experiment with many different artists, and she had not realized at first but her mind was beginning to materialize a list of songs that reminded her of the ghost girl.

Surprisingly, she was not all that embarrassed about it. Only when she thought of sharing it with the girl did she begin to feel awkward.

Another school day was over as she treaded down the sidewalk, the ghost walking next to her even though she could choose to hover along.

Tace was hanging out less and less with Synder as her mind began to prefer the ghost; it was not as if she did not like Synder, she did, just her mind became more involved with her spirit companion.

It was difficult to choose who she wanted to speak to, as one of them regardless would be ignored. She could not talk to the ghost with Synder in the room as they would be confused and most likely question her sanity.

Explaining to Synder was not an option either, while they were quite strange they most likely would not believe in such an idea of her talking to the recently deceased student.

Then again, they were _very_ weird. But still, she did not want to take any chances.

'You really should do homework, it gets subjects more integrated into your brain.' Her soft yet concerned voice pulled her from her complicated thoughts, raising her head up. The ghost always insisted she did her homework, perhaps it was because she was bored and wanted to do something with her mortal companion.

"I get A's on my tests without doing that useless shit, I think I'm fine." Tace pressed both of her hands behind her head, casually continuing forward.

'That may be true, but to get the highest grade you could manage you need to do the boring stuff as well.' The book smart ghost was of course annoyingly correct, she was described during the school vigil as a ' _star student_ '. A 'star _lonely_ student' more like.

There was silence after that. Curious, she turned to face the ghost. She was nervously poking the tips of her index fingers together, her cheeks pulled back in a nervous manner.

"What's up?" She asked, the ghost turning towards her with a slightly anxious expression.

'Oh, uhm... y'know, if you need help with work I can do it.' The ghost avoided her gaze, almost appearing shameful.

"Fine by me." The ghost then finally looked up at her, unable to suppress a smile from growing along her face.

Eventually they returned to Tace's parent's home, immediately going up the stairs and placing all of her things down at her messy desk.

'For a family of four, you sure do have an enormous house... I've never really looked around.' the ghost began, sticking her head through walls and floors.

"I have a lot of family members. Sometimes they'd stay over and god is it irritatingly loud."

'You were adopted, right?' The ghost appeared from a different wall, walking inside.

"Uh, yeah. Hard for you to tell by the fact my parents are black and I'm white as a sheet?" Tace turned to her with a raised eyebrow.

'S-sorry... that was stupid...' the ghost appeared taken back by her sudden rough retort, guilt stabbing her.

They were being much more friendly as of recent, Tace was starting to despise her more edged side as it clearly began to hurt the spirit.

She felt awkward, sitting in the chair.

"I have my work out if you wanna take a look..." the ghost slowly approached, leaning over to see the problems.

They sat there for a long while, Percy essentially filling in the answers for her along with work. She appeared to struggle with more math based subjects, which was easy for Tace so it generally went rather smoothly.

Once they were finished, Tace began to fiddle with her phone on her bed. The ghost was given permission now to sit up there with her. She sat at the end, legs crisscrossed. Appearing bored as ever, the usual.

"Hey, I found this song and it kinda reminds me of you." Tace broke the silence, the ghost curiously looking up to her.

'Is that so?' She tilted her head.

"I would say yes but more sort of—the lyrics these people write sound like grocery shopping lists." Tace then sat up, scooting herself closer to the ghost.

"I'll just play the part I'm talking about." She placed her phone down, having the music paused she pressed play to which they both quietly sat and listened.

"... _Leftover breakfast, cereal for lunch~_

_She's broken but she's fun_

_My girl eats mayonnaise_

_From a jar when she's gettin' blazed~_

_She's drunk on old cartoons_

_Liquid TV afternoons_

_Sometimes it makes me laugh_

_Sometimes it makes me sad..._ "

After those lyrics she picked her phone back up and paused it, staring away rather flustered.

'That's sweet of you... and a bit depressing, along with weird.' Percy's face was shaded red, messing with her hands.

'W-well the song that is—it's certainly unique and I kinda like it.'

"You're weird... sweet and depressing... it only felt fitting." She noticed the spirit's face become more flushed, perhaps the brightest she's ever seen it. Her eyebrows however scrunched.

'I'm depressing?'

"You're a ghost... you're dead." It was not the exact words she wanted to say, but she could not say the full truth. The ghost nodded her head.

'It's nice to know you think I'm sweet.' She turned away, smiling softly. Face still flushed as ever.

Tace smirked to herself, looking at her phone she scrolled through the playlist she had been making titled " _Percy_ ".


	10. X

Throughout their time together there have been instances of Percy receiving memories.

They were small ones, but apparently important.

One included where the two of them past by the grounds of the summer fair, of course none of the machines were there as it was fall, but still just the sight of the dirt made her remember.

'I always wanted to go to that fair... it looked like so much fun.'

"You've never been to it? At all? It happens every late summer."

'Yeah... I don't know why, I don't think just being scared was one of my reasons... god I feel like it's on the tip of my tongue as to why.' Every time she remembered, she became more somber. A lot of her memories were quite depressing, all Tace could think about is how she was always alone when she recalled them.

The ghost was staring at the concrete, eyes lowered. She pondered if she meant to appear concentrated, or just depressed.

"Hey, you wanna go to Ridgeview?" Tace came in front of her to grab her attention, the girl staring up.

' _Ridgeview?_ '

"Yeah, it's the biggest park in this town. Cutoff from the forest, there's a huge wall around its premises." Tace then pointed behind her with her thumb, turning back around and toward the destination.

'It... sounds familiar now that you describe it..!' Percy trotted up next to her, Tace nodding her head.

"Don't know how someone who has lived here could not. It's like... the main attraction of this otherwise stupid hellhole."

They continued along, entering the northern suburb then turning east. Eventually they came across the expansive wall, Tace was quite tall but even she could not see over it.

"I heard they make it this tall so people can't break in after hours, apparently there's a lot of bee reserves in here."

'Bees? I love bees!' The ghost said with unadulterated excitement, clapping her hands rapidly before walking more briskly towards the large black gates.

Tace had never heard her express her voice in such a manner, it took her back before she revived herself and continued forward.

Percy patiently stood by the entrance, bouncing around on the tips of her toes while she waited. She felt rather embarrassed despite the fact she was the only person who could see the spirit. Tace catching up they then walked inside.

It was quite open, the path actually being made from concrete rather than dirt. The area itself had a lot of hills, rivers, trees and flowers.

The ghost started treading down the main path but Tace stopped her.

"Eh-eh-eh—follow me." Tace waved her index finger, luring her past a small oak tree. There was a crude pathway surrounded by hills and close together trees.

The trees themselves made a canopy, light streaming through the colorful flames of leaves above. As they continued along the trees opened further, almost resembling a orchard.

"The beehives are seen around here, and of course the bees themselves." Tace said as she treaded further. Though the ghost made no noise when walking, Tace paused.

Turning around, she could see the girl staring at a tree, specifically a branch of a tree. Tace gradually made her way back, standing next to the spirit.

"Hey, you... alright?"

'I remember her. She was so strange...' her gaze did not break from the wooden stick.

'She looked like she didn't belong here—like she was from a game or something. That day she wore a white wolf-looking mask, some sort of gauze or tape over her chest... dark violet jean shorts and long black boots. Dyed her hair a deep navy blue.' A smile slowly ran along her lips, eyes shimmering.

'Uhm... she had vitiligo, that skin condition that's common in colored folk like me. Her skin was much darker, but had these white splotches. She also had a lot of scars on her body, most healed if not they had gauze over them.' Tace stared over at the branch, noticing upper parts of the wood was scraped and missing by the assumed boot description.

'I... I... she...' the ghost's voice began to shake, her head lowering slowly. Tace faced her body towards her.

'I... called her mom... but she was not my biological mom.' Percy appeared to restrain herself, breathing in heavily.

"Were you adopted?" Tace questioned, the spirit raised her chin. There was silence, Percy swallowed.

'I don't remember if we got that far. But I recall she would affectionately refer to me as 'kid' hah ha...' she began to chuckle, but tears were beginning to crawl down her her cheeks.

'Th-the way she'd... she'd ruffle my h—hair.' The ghost sniffled, Tace crouched down in front of her.

Percy's weeping then broke into full sobbing, unable to control herself the tears fell further.

'I-Ih—'

"Shh... it's alright..." Tace tried to grab the spirit's hands, but all they did was fall through.

'I-I...' Percy's eyes opened, staring into Tace's. All the mortal could do was gaze back, responding with an expression of worry.

The ghost wiped her nose along her right sleeve. Her arms then came down, limp, against her sides standing still.

'I... I cry a lot... d-don't I?' She giggled a bit at the end of her sentence, Tace cracking a bit of a regretful smirk.

"You do... and that's okay..." She struggled to find motivating words to help the ghost cope, the spirit nodded her head.

‘Y-yeah… yeah… i-it’s okay to… to cry.’ Percy nodded her head, staring down at the dirt floor.

As they stood there, Tace heard something peculiar from behind her. A quiet but noticeable sound.

Slowly she turned, from afar she saw a happy little sight.

“Hey—look over there.” With her left index finger she indicated the area.

Percy raised her head, her downcast expression slowly lighting up with a gentle smile.

Nearby the flowers were little chubby bumblebees, buzzing and humming their collective melody as they gathered pollen.

‘B-bumblebees..!’ The spirit made her way over, approaching the black and yellow insects.

‘They’re so fuzzy… I wish I could feel one.’ Though the little friends invoked positivity into the ghost’s mood, her tone once again became melancholic.

Though Tace had accepted the fact she had no choice and had to help the ghost gain her memories, she was pondering whether or not she was regretting that decision.

A lot of the ghost’s memories made her sad, thus she herself became sad. Before she seemed confused, curious and a bit excitable but now she had such a gloomy presence about her.

Prior to their growing relationship, Tace expressed she did not want a depressed ghost floating about her but more in a demeaning way.

Now, she did not want a _legitimately_ depressedspirit following her. If anything, she wanted her to be happy.

As she stood there, still as ever, witnessing the ghost’s admiring of the bees she realized perhaps there are ways to help lighten her mood.

Despite the bleak end comment about the bumblebees, Percy still wore her soft smile. Her hands were clasped together, an action Tace was now used to, occasionally rolling on the ball of each foot as she gazed.

Maybe it was the smallest things, such as the bees, that could help raise the former student’s mood. It does not have to be extravagant, but just enough to grow that familiar little innocent grin along the soft contours of her caramel skin speckled with ever so slightly noticeable darker flecks.

‘It’s getting late… maybe we should head back?’Tace was torn from her more compromising thoughts, staring wide eyed at the translucent girl.

“Oh, yeah—that’s probably a good idea so I don’t get in trouble.”


End file.
